Local News

Hot Topics:

Trooper admits lying to rape suspect

Robert Lee Duvall confessed to troopers he had sex with mentally disabled woman.

By RICK LEE Daily Record/Sunday News

Updated:
04/10/2013 06:55:36 PM EDT

York, PA -

On cross-examination, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Neal Navitsky readily admitted he lied to Robert Lee Duvall to get him to confess to having sex with a woman with a mental disability.

The jury in Duvall's ongoing rape trial listened to a 90-minute recorded interview of troopers questioning Duvall on Wednesday in the York County Judicial Center.

Duvall, 67, of the 2900 block of Seven Valleys Road, is accused of having non-consensual sex with the woman, now 28, between January 2005 and September 2011.

Navitsky had told the Codorus Township man that the results of the rape kit examination of his alleged victim were positive. And, he implied that the crime lab had found Duvall's DNA in swabs taken in the rape examination.

In reality, the prosecution and the defense presented a stipulation to the jury Wednesday that no seminal fluid or DNA had been found.

In the interview from Oct. 7, 2011, Duvall repeatedly told Navitsky and Trooper Jeffrey Gotwals that he never had any sexual contact with the woman.

The troopers pressed him, telling Duvall they did not believe it was forcible rape and that despite her mental capacity, the alleged victim was not a child.

They asked Duvall if the sexual relationship was "your guys' secret." Duvall said there was no secret.

They asked if she had ever seen his genitals.

"Not that I know of, buddy," Duvall said.

Advertisement

One of the troopers also said, although the woman claimed multiple sexual assaults, "I'm going to say at least one time. And it could be one mistake."

"It's never happened at all, partner," Duvall said. "I can tell you that."

The troopers told Duvall they wanted a guarantee it would not happen again.

"I can guarantee you it never happened before," Duvall said.

The troopers told him they were focusing on one incident and "the one time it did happen, it was a mistake ..."

"If it would ever happen, it would have definitely been a mistake," Duvall said. "If you got DNA, I guess it did (happen). But I don't understand."

About an hour into the interview, as the troopers kept up their questioning, Duvall said, "I don't know what to tell you. You know what I mean?"

A trooper responded, "I just want you to recall your memory."

"OK," Duvall said. "Then I had sex with her. OK? I mean, it was ... I don't know what to tell you."

Duvall went on to haltingly describe a scenario where the woman very briefly performed oral sex on him and he just as briefly had intercourse with her.

The troopers had Duvall write a statement.

In that statement he wrote: I, Robert Duvall, am sorry I made a mistake. To whom it may concern: This will never happen again. Having sex with (the woman) was a mistake.

ODESSA, Texas (AP) — A West Texas man has been charged with impersonating an officer by using sirens and flashing lights to skip to the head of the drive-thru line at a fast-food restaurant. Full Story

Sufjan Stevens, "Carrie & Lowell" (Asthmatic Kitty) Plucked strings and pulsing keyboards dominate the distinctive arrangements on Sufjan Stevens' latest album, and in the absence of a rhythm section, they serve to keep time. Full Story